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From Wonder to Witness

"You are my witnesses," says the Lord, "and my servant
whom I have chosen, that you may know and believe me and understand
that I am he. Before me no god was formed, nor shall there be any
after me. I, I am the Lord, and beside me there is no savior. I
declared and saved and proclaimed, when there was no strange god
among you; and you are my witnesses," says the Lord. "I am God, and
also henceforth I am he; there is none who can deliver from my
hand; I work and who can hinder it?"

The book of Isaiah is the most sustained self-exaltation of God
in all the Bible. Chapters 43 and 44 are breathtaking in their
boast of the absoluteness of God. I, I am he, and there is no other
god, no other savior, no other rock! I, I am the Lord the Holy One
of Israel! The book rings again and again with God's boast in his
own greatness.

What can we say to this but that God is utterly thrilled to be
God. There is a kind of volcanic exuberance in God over the fact
that he is God. He virtually erupts with the exaltation of his own
glory. God is thrilled to be God. Isaiah is ravished by the truth
that God is God. And the question this morning is ARE YOU? Is there
any eruption of wonder and awe and amazement in you that God simply
IS? That he is God?

This text is meant to nurture that experience and to turn it
into worldwide witness. Let me take those two points as my
outline:

first, the text means to nurture our sense of awe and
amazement that God is God;

second, the text means to turn that
wonder into witness.

How does it nurture our wonder and amazement
at the sheer "godness" of God? It does so by telling us what it
means to be God.

God Means for Us to Wonder at His Godness

The last two lines of verse 13 are really an exposition of what
it means to be God. God cries out, "I am God! Even from eternity I
am he!" (Here is what I mean:) "there is none who can deliver out
of my hand; I act and who can reverse it?" God lifts up the fact
that he is God: "I am God!" And then he fills it with its most
basic meaning: "I act, and no one can reverse it!" When I will do a
thing, nothing can stop me.

When he says, "I am God!" he declares his deity. When he says,
"I act and none can reverse it!" he declares his glorious
sovereignty. To be God is to be sovereign; God nurtures our wonder
at his deity by telling us that it means sovereignty. Indispensable
to the holy praise of God is a kind of stunned sight of his
absolute sovereignty: "I act and no one can reverse it." He means
for our jaws to drop. I saw this again in Isaiah 45:5–7 where God
predicts the coming of Cyrus centuries later. He says,

I am the Lord, and there is no other; besides me there is no
God. I will gird you, Cyrus, though you have not known me; that men
may know from the rising to the setting of the sun that there is no
one besides me. I am the Lord, and there is no other, the One
forming light and creating darkness, causing well-being and
creating calamity; I am the Lord who does all these.

God is at pains to declare that he is God and he alone. And to
drive that home he speaks of his sovereignty. He is willing to go
so far as to claim final responsibility for all the calamities of
the world. "I am the One who forms light and creates darkness, who
causes prosperity and creates calamity; I am the Lord who does ALL
these things." Why does God take final responsibility for all the
disasters of the world? Because he wants to fill us with trembling
awe that he is God. And that means he is sovereign. He acts and
none can reverse it!

And then I saw it again in Isaiah 46:9–10,

Remember the former things long past, for I am God, and there is
no other; I am God and there is no one like me, declaring the end
from the beginning and from ancient times things which have not
been done, saying, "My counsel will stand and I will accomplish all
my purpose."

And so here they come together again. "I am God!" And: "I will
accomplish all my purpose!" Deity. And sovereignty. I act and none
can hinder! God nurtures our wonder at his deity by directing our
attention to his sovereignty. Why? Because without sovereignty
there is no true God. The God of Isaiah is passionate to define himself in terms of sovereignty: "I act and none can reverse it."
"My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose." "I
make well and create woe, I am the Lord who does all these
things."

So the first point of our text is that God is God, which means
that God is sovereign—he works and none can hinder. He is thrilled
with his own deity and sovereignty and so should we be.

God Means to Make Witness out of Our Wonder

But now we must ask, does God nurture this wonder in us as a
merely private experience? Have we reached the apex of our joy and
the climax of our divine call where we have an overwhelming,
private experience of God's glory and power? NO! It is neither the
apex of our joy nor the climax of our call because God ignites the
fire of our worship to make us shine in the world. This is the
second point of our text, God means to make a witness out of our
wonder. He nurtures our wonder by showing us that he is a sovereign
God; and he makes our wonder into a witness for all the world.

Verse 10 is crucial here, "You are my witnesses, says the Lord,
and my servant whom I have chosen that you may know and believe me
and understand that I am he." Notice three things from this
verse.

Chosen by the Sovereign God

First, if you know God and believe God and understand that he is
God, it is because he chose you to know and chose you to believe
and chose you to understand that he is God. In other words, this
text teaches not only that we should stand in awe of the
sovereignty of God, but also that we stand in awe by the
sovereignty of God. God chose us to know, God chose us to believe,
God chose us to understand that he is God.

Chosen as Servant-Witnesses

But that's only half the sentence. Why does God light the fire
of our knowing him and believing him and our sense of awe that he
is God? Answer: he lights this fire to make us shine. That's the
second thing to notice in verse 10: He means to turn our wonder
into witness. "'You are my witnesses,' says the Lord, 'and my
servant whom I have chosen.'" Chosen not only to know; chosen not
only to believe; chosen not only to grasp the glory that God is
God; but chosen as servant-witnesses: "You are my witnesses and my
servant whom I have chosen." No one lights a lamp and puts it under
a bushel. And God doesn't stun people with his deity and
sovereignty for merely private pleasures. God ignites our wonder to
make us a witness. That's the second thing to see in verse 10.

Chosen to Bear Witness to God

And the third thing to see is that the content of our witness is
God. It is the unmistakable emphasis of this text: God lights the
flame of worship so we will bear witness to God's exuberance for
God. We can be more specific. God lights the fire of wonder so that
we witness to God's sheer existence (v. 13): "I am God and also
henceforth I am he." We witness to God's sovereignty (v. 13): "I
work and who can hinder it?" We witness to the truth that God alone
is God (v. 10): "Before me no God was formed nor shall there be any
after me." We witness to the truth that God is eternal (v. 13): "I
am God, henceforth I am he." We witness to the truth that God has
spoken (v. 12): "I declared and proclaimed." We witness to the
truth that this great incomparable God saves (v. 11): "I, I am the
Lord and beside me there is no Savior; I declared and saved."

Two points:

this text comes to nurture the wonder that God is
God: God magnifies his deity by directing us to his sovereignty;

the text means to turn that wonder into witness. The flame of
worship is a witness to God's exuberance for God.

What Does This Mean for Us?

Now what does this mean for the BGC? Pastors, we must labor to
know God. And we must help our people know God. Do we know God? Do
we understand that he is God? The link in verse 10 between
understanding that God is God and being his witnesses is
unmistakable. Do our people understand that God is God—that he
works and none can hinder it? Is not this text telling us that our
root need in witness is to know God in such a way that God's
exuberance for being God rubs off on us? And then on the world.

I think our prayer should be

O God, grant us to know you in such a way that the fire of our
wonder becomes an unquenchable flame of witness to the world.

Then we will say with powerful conviction:

Turn to me and be saved all the ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other. By myself I have sworn. From my mouth has gone forth in righteousness a word that shall
not return: To me every knee shall bow, and every tongue shall
swear.

John Piper (@JohnPiper) is founder and teacher of desiringGod.org and chancellor of Bethlehem College & Seminary. For 33 years, he served as pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church, Minneapolis, Minnesota. He is author of more than 50 books.

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